Many bloggers live a pipe dream.
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Some bloggers inform me how they have blogged for 3 years already, patting themselves on the back. But how many hours did said bloggers spend creating helpful content and building strong bonds generously during the 3 years? 50? 100? 1000? Even if you spent 1000 hours blogging, I have 20,000 hours of *real blogging* under my belt. The aforementioned 3 year blogger did not *really blog* for 3 years; they just *owned their domain and hosting for 3 years*, and spend a little time blogging. HUGE difference.
Did you see the featured image for this post? This is my view now in a cave hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey. I am a Troglodyte. I lived next door in the cave home for 5 weeks. My wife and I fly to Thailand tomorrow for a 2-3 month trip.
Some people call me lucky, blessed, gifted or talented to live this life. I just point them to this image:
12,213 comments on the Disqus platform alone.
Does that look like luck to you? Does that look like talent? Does that look like me being gifted, or a natural? No. 12,213 comments on a single platform for comments indicates I gave up many years of my life to read posts and publish 1, 2 or 5 paragraph comments on Disqus comment blogs. That is what it takes to be a pro blogger; a full time commitment, often times, well before full time income flows to you.
This idea gets lost on most bloggers which is why most bloggers do not become full time bloggers. Most bloggers have no idea what it takes to become a pro blogger because either they have poor blogger role models focused on making money fast or they completely ignore advice from good blogging role models.
I love blogging. I have fun helping people build rocking blogs. But sometimes, as I wrote and published those 12,213 comments, I:
- felt frustrated
- felt annoyed
- felt like I was wasting my time
Each time those fears arose, I breathed deeply, felt the fears, and released the fears. I then proceeded. Do you see how this pro blogging journey is simple but sometimes highly uncomfortable? Most humans do the simple blogging things that yield success for a little bit, then, feel deep fears, then, panic, stop doing the simple success-building things for weeks, months or years, and never become full time bloggers.
You need to be all in, guys. Sometimes, life and blogging feel uncomfortable. Breathe deeply, relax, feel the fear, release the fear and proceed on your way to being a full time, professional blogger.
You Can Do it!
You can and will be a professional blogger. Do not quit if you feel discouraged after reading this post. Maybe you feel crushed, believing you could earn a full time income after 3 months. Now you need to work years to go full time? Wow….feels deflating, maybe, but if you plan to be around for the next few years you may as well do blogging right and become a pro blogger.
Be all in. Blog your fun. Follow your passion. Be generous, patient and persistent. Ride out those difficult periods. Observe genuine pros. See how they put in the time? Easy, I commented on 50,000 to 100,000 blogs among different platforms over the past decade. Be generous and in time, blogging will become incredibly generous with you.
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